EK joins the CLC climate initiative: Climate policy ambition must be raised to correspond to the 1.5 C target

The Confederation of Finnish Industries is joining the climate initiative of the Climate Leadership Coalition (CLC) and Nordic partners. The initiative calls for the EU to update its current targets according to the Paris Agreement. According to the IPCC, in order to reach the 1.5 C target, net-zero emissions must be achieved by 2050.

Mitigating climate change is, by far, the greatest challenge of our time. An IPCC report, published in October 2018, has a clear and direct message to decision-makers. Everyone must reduce emissions more and at a faster rate.

EK is strongly committed to the targets of the Paris Agreement and the measures required to achieve these.

“Today we have joined a group that wants to be in the vanguard in solving the climate challenge. We must create sustainable growth and prosperity for future generations as well,” says Jyri Häkämies, EK’s Director General.

To solve the climate change challenge we need extensive investments into both existing technology and into devising new low-carbon solutions. In addition to emission reductions we need to invest in carbon dioxide removal with carbon sinks and using carbon dioxide capture, use and storage.

“Company investments require a controlled structural change and outlook for the coming decades. For business it is important that cost-efficient and market-based solutions are found for emission reductions. A good example is the EU’s emissions trading system, which reduces the emissions of manufacturing and energy production under its decreasing cap,” says Häkämies.

Finland is currently one of the world’s most innovative cleantech countries. Häkämies points out that Finnish companies can be strongly involved in finding solutions for the climate challenge.

“The more that we can get Finnish expertise out into the international market, the more broadly Finland can be involved in achieving the emission targets on a global scale.”